Hallelujah – From Candadia?

You’d think the broadcaster of the winter Olympics would get the host country’s name correct but according to one subtitle on the 9 news the other night the Games are in Candadia! So, greetings to all our Candadian readers.

At the opening ceremony tonight kd lang gave a moving rendition of Leonard Cohen’s song ‘Hallelujah’ but do people actually listen to the lyrics of the song? I think kd left out the final two verses but there was enough in there to suggest that while the tune is gorgeous the lyrics are completely inappropriate:

Your faith was strong but you needed proof

You saw her bathing on the roof

Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you

She tied you

To a kitchen chair

She broke your throne, and she cut your hair

And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

There was a time you let me know

What’s really going on below

But now you never show it to me, do you?

And remember when I moved in you

The holy dove was moving too

And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

I suspect that the image of someone being tied to a kitchen chair has nothing to do with ice hockey or ski jumping, though those crazy Canadians have got a wicked sense of humour. (I wonder what the Pope thought when he heard the song in Sydney last year?)

Of course, the highlight of the interminable evening was the interview between well-known winter sports expert and music critic Eddie McGuire and Ms lang. Eddie is the only person who uses the words fantastic, incredible and amazing more than I do! But he adds wonderful a lot and I have managed to largely eliminate that from my vocabulary.

Having interviewed kd a few years back when she released Songs From The 49th Parallel I have to say that she is a delightful person. So delightful that she dealt with Eddie’s numerous ‘how does it feel?’ questions with aplomb. (I once read somewhere that the question ‘How do you feel?’ is the sign of the bankrupt interviewer).

Poor Ken Sutcliffe was relegated to second banana, though his interviews were far better. Don’t the bosses at 9 remember that Eddie’s performance as CEO was not fantastic, incredible or amazing.

As for the opening ceremony itself, I reckon Eddie could try and convince you that a snail race is exciting. But he will never come close to the great Darrell Eastlake. who would actually make it sound exciting.

Brian Wise was the Editor of Addicted To Noise‘s Australian site from 1997 – 2002. The site won two ONYA Awards as Best Online Music Magazine in 1999 & 2000. He has also been Editor since its reincarnation in 2013. He also presents the weekly music interview program Off The Record on 102.7 Triple R-FM (rrr.org.au) in Melbourne. It is networked to 45+ stations across Australia on the Community Radio Network and is a four-time winner of the Best Music Program Award from the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia. In 2012, it was nominated as a finalist in the Excellence in Music Programming category. Brian was also the Founding Editor & Publisher of Rhythms Magazine and is now its Senior Contributing Editor.

About

Addicted to Noise was an online music magazine in the early days of the World Wide Web. Founded in 1994 by ex-Rolling Stone Associate Editor and Senior Writer Michael Goldberg, he was also the Editor in Chief from October 1994 – June 2000).